PowerOfThankYo HCtext3P.indd9/24/21 xi 3:34:12 AM

PowerOfThankYo_HCtext3P.indd xi 9/24/21 3:34:12 AM

C H A P T E R 1

Thankfulness Is God’s Will

Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the cir-

cumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks],

for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ

Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].

1 Thessalonians 5:18 AMPC

PowerOfThankYo_HCtext3P.indd 1 9/24/21 3:34:12 AM

Because God does so much for us, we should be thankful

in every circumstance, even if everything is not pleasant

for us at the moment. No matter what kind of difficulty we

may face, our blessings always

outweigh our troubles. We create

problems for ourselves when we

forget our blessings or begin to

take them for granted because we

have had them for so long. When

this happens, we begin to focus only on life’s difficulties.

God doesn’t need us to thank Him, so I imagine His

instructions to do so are repeated frequently because

expressing our gratitude is good for us. It keeps us focused

on our blessings instead of our problems, which adds joy

and contentment to our lives. Studies have shown that

thankful people tend to be healthier than those who com-

plain frequently.

The story in Luke 17:11– 19 (ESV) gives us an idea of how

few people take time to give thanks:

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along

between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered

a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a

distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus,

Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them

he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the

No matter what kind of difficulty we may face, our blessings always outweigh our troubles.


4 THE POWER OF THANK YOU

priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then

one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned

back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on

his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was

a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten

cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to

return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith

has made you well.”

As you can see, Jesus cleanses ten lepers of the horrible

disease of leprosy, but only one returns to say thank you.

I can’t help but wonder what happened to the other nine

lepers Jesus healed. The Bible doesn’t tell us, but it is defi-

nitely food for thought.

Thankfulness Is a Sign of Spiritual Maturity

Giving thanks in all things at all times shows spiritual

maturity, and it is something we grow into little by little.

We are not born as thankful people, but we can cultivate

a culture of gratitude in our lives. In the early stages of

our relationship with God through Christ, we may not be

aware of all the amazing ways He helps and blesses us on

a regular basis; we may be more inclined to notice what

we don’t like about our lives

and want God to fix. But as we

grow in our knowledge of God

and in His blessings, we realize

Giving thanks in all things at all times shows spiritual maturity.


Thankfulness Is God’s Will 5

that the list of things we have to be thankful for is endless,

even in the midst of our problems. As I often say, our worst

day with Jesus is better than our best day ever was without

Him. Take a few moments right now and think of all the

things God provides, such as:

• peace

• answered prayer

• grace

• forgiveness of sin

• hope

• right relationship with Him through Christ

• provision

• mercy

• help

• wisdom

• strength

• and many other blessings

Even if all your problems vanished right now, if you had

none of these blessings I have listed as gifts from God,

I am sure you would rather keep your problem with the

blessings of God than get rid of the problem and lose the

blessings too.

As I have studied the apostle Paul’s writings, I have

learned that he never prayed for people’s problems to go

away. This is also a sign of spiritual maturity. He prayed

they would bear whatever they had to endure with good

attitudes. In his epistles to the churches, he frequently



reminded people to be thankful. In his letter to the Colos-

sians alone, instructions to be thankful are plentiful:

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ, when we pray for you, because we have

heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love

you have for all God’s people.

Colossians 1:3– 4

Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has

qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy

people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued

us from the dominion of darkness and brought us

into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we

have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:12– 14

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,

continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built

up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were

taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6– 7

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since

as members of one body you were called to peace.

And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell

among you richly as you teach and admonish one

another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns,

and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with



gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do,

whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of

the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father

through him.

Colossians 3:15– 17

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and

thankful.

Colossians 4:2

As you can see, in this one epistle, which consists of

only four chapters, Paul encourages the giving of thanks

several times. This tells me that we need frequent remind-

ers to be thankful.

In Ephesians 5:20 Paul pens these simple yet powerful

words: “Always giving thanks to God the Father for every-

thing, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He urges his

readers to be thankful in most of his epistles, and I think

reading his letters looking for instructions to be thankful

would be enlightening and encouraging for you.

Some scholars and Bible teachers refer to Paul as “the

apostle of thanksgiving.” No wonder he was trusted to

write two- thirds of the New Testament. Paul had experi-

enced God’s great grace and mercy at his conversion on

the Damascus road, and we can tell from his writings that

he never stopped being thankful for it (Acts 9:3– 5). We

should follow his example and never stop being thank-

ful for all that God does in our lives and the blessings He

gives to us.



A Story of Heartfelt Thanks

I recently read an article about a homeless man who was

often hungry, cold, tired, and in poor health. He had no

family and, apparently, no one to love him. The author of

the article had previously read about this homeless person

and wrote:

It broke my heart that anyone who is homeless has

to go through such circumstances. However, one

might think the man would give up hope, become

bitter, angry, depressed and lonely because life

appears to have dealt him a bad hand, right?

Instead, the article went on to say how the man

makes a point every day to go feed the birds with

crumbs or food that he can find in the trash or if a

Good- Samaritan offers him some food, he shares

it. He was asked how he felt about being homeless

and he replied, “I have the air in my lungs and I’m

grateful for everything I have been blessed with

but most important I am grateful for three things:

that I’m alive, that I have the ability to love,”

(and with tears starting to fill his eyes) his third

gratitude . . . “that I have my beloved birds.”1

This story is very touching, and it makes me want to go

help someone. Anyone who has such a good attitude while

living under such circumstances should inspire each of

us. Just think of the small issues we complain about in



relation to the blessings for which this homeless man was

thankful. His gratitude gave him the power to be happy in

the midst of very difficult situations.

The Power of Thank You

Many people are taught as children to give thanks at meal-

time. Although this is good, we should also be taught from

an early age to give thanks in all things. The giving of

thanks is powerful beyond what we may realize. It brings

many benefits to our lives and to the lives of other people.

Gratitude to God makes our relationship with Him bet-

ter, and expressing appreciation and thanks to others cer-

tainly improves our relationships with them.

When we do something for someone and they don’t even

bother to acknowledge it with a thank you, we can feel

that the gesture has fallen flat. I don’t do things for people

in order to get thanks from them, yet it still feels as though

something is missing when they do not express apprecia-

tion for what I have done. I feel they are missing a blessing

by “taking” or receiving something without acknowledg-

ing their gratitude. Perhaps they have never been taught

regarding the importance of expressing gratitude. If not, it

is never too late to learn.

I never want to fail to say thank you, but I am sure that I

sometimes neglect to do so; therefore, I am writing this book

for myself as well as for you. As I mentioned earlier, Psalm

100:4 says that we are to “be thankful and say so” (AMPC).

This is a simple, yet powerful instruction. It means to have a



heart that appreciates everything it is given and a mouth that

expresses thanksgiving to God and to people through words.

Nehemiah 8:10 says that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Expressing gratitude through phrases such as thank you or I

appreciate you not only blesses those to whom we speak, but

it also releases something powerful in us. It helps us real-

ize how blessed we are, and keeping that in mind gives us

joy. I think speaking words of gratitude in person is the best

option when possible, but we may

also choose to text, email, call, or

write a note to people we want to

thank. Doing so takes very little

time and does us a great deal of

good. It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful

people who are happy.

I have heard that one of the deepest needs in human

beings is to be appreciated. Charles Schwab said, “The way

to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation

and encouragement.” No one wants to feel taken advantage

of or to sense that what they do for others is meaningless.

But when people do not express gratitude, it is easy for

our enemy, Satan, to whisper in our ears, “You don’t really

matter. What you did for them didn’t make any difference.”

We have the power to help others avoid such negative feel-

ings by simply saying thank you when it should be said. I

suspect we could spare people many of the enemy’s lies by

simply being more encouraging and appreciative.

We have the ability to give people value with our words.

Isn’t that amazing? Words are containers for power, and

It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful people who are happy.



we can choose the type of power we will put into them.

This power can be positive in its ability to build up and

encourage people or negative in its capacity to tear down

and discourage them.

Although we should listen more

than we talk ( James 1:19), there are

times we should speak, and one of

those times is to say thank you. Silent gratitude doesn’t do

much for anyone. When was the last time you said you were

thankful for something or someone? If it has been a while,

maybe now would be a good time.

Expressing thankfulness can greatly improve your mar-

riage. Just imagine how your life with your spouse might

change if you began to appreciate them more than you find

fault with them. Great things could happen. Gratitude can

melt a hard heart and heal emotional wounds. I recall a

time when I was unhappy with Dave and thinking about

everything that I thought was wrong with him. I felt the

Lord challenge me to write a list of everything I didn’t like

about him, along with everything I did like. When I had

finished, I realized I liked much more about him than I

didn’t like, and it turned my whole attitude around.

Nobody is perfect— not even you and me.

Get Your Mind off of Yourself

Being thankful keeps our focus off ourselves and on what

God and other people do for us. As I write this book, my

daughter and son-in-law are with me. They are here for

Silent gratitude doesn’t do much for anyone.



one purpose— to help me. They

do everything so that I am free

to write, and I am thankful.

They just told me that they will

pay for dinner tonight, so there

is another blessing for which I can thank God and them.

No wonder the Bible encourages us to count our blessings

and to “praise the Lord . . . and forget not all his benefits”

(Psalm 103:2).

If we actually pay attention to all that God does for us

and count our blessings, it will definitely help us keep

our mind off ourselves. Being self- centered and happy

at the same time is impossible. I know, because I tried it

for years. Thank God, He showed me that the less I think

about myself, the happier I am and the more He will do

for me. I don’t ignore my legitimate needs, but I do make

an effort not to think I am the only person in the universe

who matters.

Paul writes in Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing out of self-

ish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value

others above yourselves.” And in 1 Corinthians 10:24, he

says: “No one should seek their own good, but the good of

others.” These verses don’t mean that we should never do

anything good for ourselves, but they do mean that our

personal benefit should not be our only goal. The more we

bless others, the more blessed we will be.

If we think often of what we have, we won’t end up want-

ing more and more all the time, which leads to unhappi-

ness. Greed steals our life, according to Proverbs 1:10– 19.

Being thankful keeps our focus off ourselves and on what God and other people do for us.



It prevents us from seeing our current blessings and keeps

us focused only on what we want but do not have.

Let me encourage you to begin to cultivate a culture

of thanksgiving in your life by going through your day

being thankful for every blessing you have, especially the

tiny ones that many people tend to take for granted. This

will add power to your life and bring you closer to God.

Thanksgiving is a type of praise, and the Bible says that

we enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and come into His

courts with praise (Psalm 100:4).


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